A Just God and a Saviour

Now open your Bibles again with
me to Isaiah 45, verse 21. There's a phrase in verse 21
that needs to be underscored because it's one that we're liable
to read over and fail to enter into its depth, fail to see its
significance, its fullness. A just God and a Savior. A just God and a Savior. Now this is the theme of the
whole Bible, summed up in just one phrase. God is a just God. Holy, righteous, pure. God is light, in Him there's
no darkness. He said, I will in no wise clear
the guilty. God is a just God. I, the Lord,
have spoken in righteousness, shall not the judge of the earth
do that which is right. He is a just God and a Savior. God is not only holy, but he's
merciful. He's not only righteous, but
he's gracious. God will not only punish sin,
but he will forgive sinners. He's plenteous in mercy. delights
to show mercy. God is a just God and a Savior. Adam is cast out of the garden
by the justice of God. God said, in the day you eat,
you shall die. And he was cast out of the garden
by God's justice. God is showing that he's a just
God. But Adam goes out of the garden
with a promise of mercy. The seed of woman shall crush
and destroy the head of the serpent. Though Adam is cast out of the
garden by the justice of God, he goes forth with a promise
of mercy. The world in Noah's day is destroyed
by a flood of justice, God's judgment. God Almighty sent the
flood, swept away all of mankind, everything living, but floating
on that water of justice and judgment is an ark of mercy. God is a just God, but God is
a Savior. From Mount Sinai comes the strict
law, the law of condemnation, the law of holiness. But there
in the temple is the mercy seat, and on that mercy seat, a blood
atonement, an atonement to secure forgiveness, redemption, an atonement
to secure God's mercy. God's a just God. His law reveals
his justice, but the atonement reveals his mercy. The cross
of Calvary is a twofold message. It says God is a just God, and
the cross says God's a Savior. God Almighty's a just God who
will punish sin, yea, he spared not his own son, who was not
a sinner by practice, But he was a sinner by imputation. He
took upon himself our sins. But God will punish sin, even
those imputed. But the cross of Calvary also
says that God is a Savior. He will pardon the guilty. For
from that cross, our Lord prayed, Father, forgive them. Forgive
them. There is forgiveness with thee.
Father, forgive them. They know not what they do. So
you see, this statement is a summary of the entire Bible from Genesis
to Revelation. God is a just God. He's a righteous
God. He's a holy God. But God is also
a Savior. You see that? All right, secondly
now, by way of introducing this subject this morning, God is
a just God, and God is a Savior. And this is the age-old question
that has occupied the thoughts of all men who really know God. And we're not talking about those
who worship the idols which they have made with their own hands
and from their own imagination. We're talking about men who really
know God, who know the living God, men who know themselves.
men who face things as they are. This is a question that they
have pondered. This is a question that they
have considered. This is a question that is on
their mind continually. What is it? How can God be just
and a savior? How can God be just and justify
the ungodly? How can God deal with me as he
by rights ought to deal with me? How can God deal with me
in strict righteousness and justice and holiness, and also deal with
me in mercy, kindness, and love? How can God be just and a Savior? He says God is a just God and
a Savior, and men who know God and who know themselves, who
know God's righteousness and who know their sin, they want
to know how can these things be. Now, the book of Job is said
to be the oldest book in the Bible. Genesis is not the oldest
book in the Bible. But Job is the oldest book. Actually,
the order in which the books are placed in the Bible does
not mean they were written in that order. Paul's first epistle
was the book of 1 Thessalonians, and yet it's after Romans and
1 and 2 Corinthians and Galatians and Ephesians and Philippians
and so on down the line. And the book of Job according
to all of those who seem to know, who are supposed to know, is
the oldest book in all the Bible. Now I want you to turn to Job
chapter 9. Now this is, as I said, the age-old question. God is
a just God. God is a Savior. He said it.
He's demonstrated it. He demonstrated it in the garden.
Adam ate, Adam died, Adam was cast out. But he went out with
a promise. There'll be a Redeemer. God sent the flood. He said,
My spirit shall not always strive with man. His days shall be 120
years. I'm going to destroy the whole
earth. And he did. But in that judgment, there's
that art, mercy. And on that cross, we see God's
justice, holiness. I will punish sin. And he did.
But we see also God's mercy. I will forgive. And those who
know God just don't accept that because some preacher says it.
Or because it's the tradition of theology. They want to know
how. And that's what Job's asking here. In Job, actually Job chapter
8, it was Bildad who said verse 22, They that hate thee shall
be clothed with shame. And the dwelling place of the
wicked shall come to naught. And Job answered and said, I
know it so. I know it so of a truth. But how? But how should man be
just with God? How? All right, turn with me
to Job 15. Job 15, verse 14 through 16. What is man, Job 15, 14, what
is man that he should be clean? And he which is born of a woman,
that he should be righteous." I was reading in that, in the,
uh, Jack read Psalm 85 in the study this morning. I was looking
at Psalms 86, and the psalmist was saying, I am holy. I am one
that is righteous. How, Job is saying, how can he
that is born of a woman be righteous? Look at verse 15. Behold, he
putteth no trust in his saints. The heavens are not clean in
his sight. How much more abominable and
filthy is man which drinketh iniquity like water? How? That's
what Job's asking. Can God be just and yet declare
a man born of woman from Adam's loins filled with the sin of
his imaginations and thoughts and anger and hate and all of
these things, how can he be righteous? Now turn to Job 25. They just
keep on dealing with this subject. In Job 25, verse 4, here's Bildad
again talking, and he says in Job 25, verse 4, How then can
man be justified with God? You know what justified means?
It means without sin. Justified means without sin.
Pardon means to have your sins put away. Forgiveness is to have
your sins forgiven and forgotten. Justified means to be without
sin. Someone said a good definition
of justification or to be justified is just as if I had never seen. Now, how can this be? That's
what he's asking. How can he be clean that's born
of a woman? That is, The reason they keep
saying born of a woman is because they are conceived by a man,
or it's come from Adam. How can anybody be clean that's
one of Adam's sons that came down through Christ Jesus, our
Lord, was born without sin, but no other man is. Behold, even
to the moon it shineth not, yea, the stars are not pure in his
sight, how much less man that is a worm, and the Son of Man
which is a worm. Somehow, God Almighty is just
and a Savior. Somehow, God Almighty can be
just and holy and righteous, and yet completely clear the
guilty, put away all of our stain and sin and corruption, past,
present, and future, and regard us as holy as His Son, Jesus
Christ. Now a man needs to find out how. He needs to quit going through
the mechanics of religion and the tradition of his denominationalism
and sectarianism, and he needs to sit down intelligently and
find out how can these things be. The Bereans were more noble
than those of another place because they searched the scriptures
to see if these things are so. That's the reason our Lord said,
come let us reason together. Though your sins be as scarlet,
I'll make them white as snow. Though they be red like crimson,
they shall be as wool. And the man who really knows
God and knows himself wants to know, how? How? That's what Job and Bildad and
these other men are asking over and over again. How? How can
God be just? and justify the ungodly. How
can he be holy and righteous and clean that's born of a woman?
Well, Paul says, turn to Romans 3, Paul says this is the heart
of the gospel. This is the good news, this is
the message. It's not only that Jesus Christ
came, but it's why did he come? From, for what purpose did he
come? Not only that Jesus Christ died
on a cross, but why did he die on a cross? It's not only that
he lived 33 1â�„2 perfect years without guilt, but why? Why did God send his Son into
the world? Did he send him down here just as a martyr, a defeated
Reformer, a frustrated Reformer? Why did he send him as an example
only? Well, let's see. Romans 3, verse
25. whom God hath set forth, or foreordained
is the word there, to be a propitiation, that is a sacrifice, a sin offering,
a mercy sin, through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness,
God's righteousness, God is just and for the remission, for the
passing over, the forgiveness of sins that have passed through
the forbearance, the patience, the mercy of God, to declare,
I say, at this time, this is why Christ came, this is why
he died, to declare, I say, at this time, God's righteousness
that he might be just and the justifier of him which believeth
in Jesus. There it is. There it is. Christ came to be a propitiation. Christ came to be a sin offering.
Christ came to be a sacrifice. That Almighty God might declare
at this time his righteousness, his holiness. That he might declare
at this time how he can be just. how he can be holy, how he can
be righteous, and yet be a Savior, and be a justifier of the ungodly,
and be a justifier of them that believe in Jesus. That's how
Christ came here and took our place under God's justice. He
became a man. Let's look back here at Romans
3, back two or three verses. Verse 19. Look at verse 19. That what thing
soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law,
who is that? That's you and me. Every subject of God's kingdom
is under God's law. That every mouth may be stopped,
and all the world may become guilty. What do you mean by stopping
the mouth? Excuses, alibis, self-justification. But I'm not as bad as Bill or
George or Tom or Fred or somebody. Wait a minute now, the law stops
every mouth. Every excuse, every alibi, every
self-justifying excuse, the law of God stops the mouth. And the
whole world, before God's law becomes guilty, just guilty,
not almost guilty or not quite as guilty, just guilty. And then the second thing, verse
20, therefore by the deeds of the law, we know this, by the
deeds of the law no flesh is going to be justified. Not in
God's sight. You may justify yourself, but
not in God's sight. Mother may think you're a fine
boy, but God knows better. The neighbors may think you're
an outstanding, pious person, but God knows better. Not in
His sight. By the law shall no flesh be justified in His sight. Because a man who knows the law
knows he's a sinner. By the law is the knowledge of
sin. You see that? But now, but now, verse 21, the
righteousness of God, the holiness of God, the perfection of God,
without the law, we're not going to have it by the law or through
the law. But without the law, it is manifested. It's being
witnessed by the law and the prophets, the word and the prophets.
Even the righteousness of God, which is by faith of Jesus Christ
unto all and upon all them that believe. There's no difference.
All have sinned and come short of the glory of God. And we are
justified freely. Not by works. We don't earn it.
We don't buy it. We don't deserve it. Freely.
by His grace through the redemption that is in Jesus Christ. That
brings us to that verse 25 I read, whom God set forth. You see that? We are sinners. Few people know
that, realize that, admit that. We are guilty. The law says we're
guilty. Our mouths are stopped. We've
got no alibi. We're guilty. And the law is
not going to help us. By the deeds of the law shall
no flesh be justified. It's not going to help us. All
the law can do is damn us and condemn us. All it is is a perfect
holiness that reveals what we are. By the law is the knowledge
of sin. But there is a righteousness
manifested and revealed. It's the righteousness of God,
which is a man's possession not by works, but by faith, by the
faith of Jesus Christ, whom God has foreordained and manifested
in these last days, that God might be just and holy and righteous
and deal with us in justice and at the same time pardon us, forgive
us, love us, justify us, accept us in the Beloved as perfectly
holy. Christ died. Christ came to the
earth, Christ became a man, Christ met the law, Christ obeyed the
law, Jesus Christ went to the cross and died under the law.
It was not Rome that nailed Christ to the cross, it was the Father
who was pleased to bruise him. And then what Scripture said?
He said, no man takes my life from me, I lay it down. Turn
to the book of Acts over here a moment. Here's something we
need to see. Now, we are, all men are to blame
for rejecting Christ, for despising Christ, for crucifying Christ. All men are to blame. That's
right. They are to blame. But it was
the purpose of God, it was the decree of the Father, It was
the will of the Father that sent him to the cross as a lamb, as
a sacrifice, as a substitute, as a redeemer. Acts 2 verse 23. Him being delivered by the determinate
counsel and foreknowledge of God, you have taken and with
wicked hands, by wicked hands, have crucified and slain. But
who delivered him? Who brought him to that hour?
who decreed that he should, no man taketh my life from me. He
said, I lay it down. I have the power to take it,
lay it down, and to take it up again. Now turn to Acts 4. In
Acts 4, verse 26. Acts 4, 26. The kings of the
earth stood up and the rulers were gathered together against
the Lord and against his Christ. Herod, Pontius Pilate, the rulers
of Israel, the priests, the high priests, those nations that hated
one another became friends at the cross because they had a
common enemy, Jesus Christ. Rulers, ungodly men like Herod
and Pilate who hated each other became friends at the cross.
They hated Christ more. The Jew and the Gentile, read
it back. For of a truth against thy holy
child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate,
with the Gentiles and the people of Israel, were gathered together
to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before
to be done." Christ didn't die as a martyr. He died as a substitute. He didn't die as an example.
He died as a sacrifice. Jesus Christ did not die as an
afterthought, he was foreordained, the Lamb slain before the foundation
of the world. His death was no accident, it
was the fulfilled purpose of God. He came down here in order
that God might be just and justify his people, in order that God
Almighty might be just and justify Him who believes on Christ. This
is where it was done. Turn to that Psalms 85 a moment. Let's look at a verse. Psalms
85 10. Now God says I'm just, but he says I'm a Savior. God
says I'm holy, but I'm merciful. God says I will not clear the
guilty. But God says, I'll remember their
sins no more. And Job and those men of that
day and stinking men of this day are not willing just to listen
to some preacher cry, believe, believe, believe! They want to
know how and why and what happened. Yes, Jesus Christ died on the
cross. I want to know where he came
from. I want to know who sent him. I want to know why he died. I want to know what he accomplished.
I want to know where he is now. I want to know what he's doing.
I've got some questions. And here in Psalms 85 verse 10,
mercy and truth. Now those, mercy and truth, are
two different things, two different attributes. The mercy of God
is the love and the grace and the forgiveness of God. Truth is truth. God says, I will
do that which is right. That which is truth. Now God's mercy says that my
sins are forgiven. God's truth says he's just as
guilty as he can be. God's mercy says let him go. God's truth says punish him. God's mercy says love him. God's
truth says damn him. Now how are those two going to
get together? It says mercy and truth are met together. Righteousness
and peace! Righteousness says, declare war
on the infidel and the atheist and the agnostic and the blasphemer.
God's peace says, peace on earth. And it says here that those two
have kissed each other. And I'll tell you this, if you
can answer the question, how and where, you know the gospel. If you can't, you don't know
the gospel. How did mercy and truth meet
together on a common ground and get together and blend? You know how? You know where?
You know how? Righteousness, cold, clear, godliness,
righteousness, kiss, peace. You know how? If you don't, you
don't know the gospel. I don't care if you do know Christ
died on the cross, you don't know the gospel. if you don't
know how and where righteousness and peace kissed each other.
Not anywhere it happened, it happened at Calvary. It happened
at Calvary. Oh, the love that drew salvation's
plan. Oh, the grace that brought it
down to man. Oh, the mighty good that God
did span at Calvary. Mercy there was great and grace
was free. Pardon there was multiplied to
me. There, my burdened soul found
liberty at Calvary. That's where God Almighty can
say, I'm a just God, I punish sin. My wrath and judgment and
condemnation is upon all sin, even when it's in the body of
my beloved Son. Why did the Son refuse to shine
at Calvary? Why did the rocks tremble? Why
did the earth quake? Why was there darkness over all
the land? Why did Christ Jesus the Lord
cry first and suffer? Huh? It's because the wrath of
God was upon Him. The wrath of the Father was upon
Him. The Father turned His back from His Son. Christ hung on
that cross and died alone. He walked the winepress of God's
wrath alone. The Father was not with him on
the cross. I beg your pardon. He cried himself,
My God, why hast thou forsaken me? It was at Calvary that righteousness,
the righteousness of God, met the love of God. and kissed each
other. It was at Calvary that the truth
of God, the truth of God against all sin and the mercy of God
met together. And there God can be just and
righteous and holy. And Satan cannot point an accusing
finger at the righteous throne of God and say, hold on here
now God, You let so-and-so get away with this and get away with
that and get away with the other." God says, No, I didn't. I punished
every one of his sins. They all were paid for at Calvary. You see that? Wait a minute,
God, hold on now. I wish to bring a charge against
one of your elect. Paul says, Who can lay anything
to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifies. Who
is he that condemneth? Christ died. Christ died. Yea, I say that the justice of
God was more satisfied in the death of Christ than it could
have been in the eternal condemnation of the whole universe. It was
more satisfied and more fulfilled. Turn back to that text, Isaiah
chapter 45. Oh, if we could learn this. I'm sorry, I feel desperately
bad about it, but people do not know the gospel. They do not
understand the gospel. They've got a sentimental, emotional,
traditional, ceremonial religion that makes them respect religious
objects. The other day, I ought not to
tell this, but I go to the post office every morning, and I pass
usually the same people in there. I pass sometimes there's fellas
standing there, you know, getting out of the cold, and fellas off
the street and down on Front Street and all, some pretty rugged
characters, and nobody ever pays any attention to me. They don't
know me, of course. I go in. But one morning this
past week, I had on a turtleneck white sweater. And I had on a
pair of black shoes and black trousers and a dark, double-breasted
clerical coat, like the clergy, you know, pulled up here, and
all you could see was this white rim around my collar, right around
here, white collar, and that black, double-breasted coat.
And I got bowed to, and I got hats tipped to me. That's right. I got people speaking to me that
never even looked my way. Why? I looked like a what? And I'll tell you people today,
they have a sentimental, emotional feeling about anything that looks
like religion. But they don't know the gospel.
Now, you know that and I do too. And if you buttonhole the average
fellow and ask him, how can God be just and holy and righteous? And yet forgive you, you desperately
wicked, deceitful sinner, huh? I don't have the faintest idea,
but I sure hope he can do it. How can God be righteous and
yet merciful? Truth and yet love, how can it
be? How can man that's born a woman
be clean in God's sight? How can he be righteous when
he drinks iniquity like the water and when the heavens aren't clean
in God's sight? I'll tell you how. Jesus Christ the Lord came
down here in human flesh. He became our representative.
He came down here as our federal head and as a man. He fulfilled
all that the holy law of God required of me. He wasn't a private
person in Cana of Galilee and Judea and Samaria and all these
other places. He was not a private person.
He was a race. He was a nation. He was a people. in the eyes of God, and all that
he endured, and all that he suffered, he endured and suffered for those
people. And all that he did, and he said,
suffer it to be so when he came down to be baptized of John.
John said, well, I've got no business baptizing you. You ought
to be baptizing me. He said, John, suffer it to be
so. To do what? To fulfill all righteousness. I come here, John, as a sinner.
I come here, John, as the man. I come here, John, to give back
what Adam lost. I come here, John, to fulfill
what Adam destroyed. I come here, John, to fulfill
righteousness. Those stripes that were laid
on his back, those nails that were driven in his hands, and
those indignities that he suffered, why? They were for you and me. They were what we deserve. They
were what the law of God says give to the sinner. And they
gave them to Christ in our place. You see that? You see that? It's not looked. Look at verse
22, Isaiah 45. So look to me. Look to me. I'm a just God. And I'm a Savior. And I know how it can be done.
So you look to me, don't look to the law. All you can see in
the law is sin and condemnation. Tell me, Paul said, you that
desire to be under the law, don't you hear the law? Don't you hear
the law? Cursed is everyone that continueth
not in all things written in the book of the law to do them. It's not look to your works of
charity, or look to your preacher, or look to your church, it's
look to Christ, look to me, I'm a just God, and I'm a Savior. So you look to me, and you look
to me and be saved. Look to me and be saved. Look
to me and be saved. And last of all, I want you to
see this, for I am God. And he said, all the ends of
the earth, it doesn't matter who you are, black, white, red
or yellow, old or young, there's not one gospel for you older
people and another gospel for the young people. It's the same
gospel. God is still the same. Sin is still the same. The sacrifice
is the same. Death is the same. Judgment's
just as sure. Hell's just as real. Eternity's
just as long. In Christ there's neither male
nor female, bond nor free, Jew nor Gentile, old nor young, rich
nor poor. It's the same message. You look
to me. All the ends of the earth. Find them, wherever they are,
whoever they are. Tell them to look to me. How can you do it? Because he says, I'm God. Because
I'm God. Now, let me point out some things
and I'll quit. Turn to Job 9 again. It's not
going to do you any good to justify yourselves. In Job 9, verse 20,
listen to what Job said. If I justify myself, my own mouth shall condemn me."
If I say I'm perfect, my own mouth will prove me a liar, perverse. And then, it will do me no good
of what profit to justify myself in the eyes of men. Turn to Luke
16, listen to what our Lord said here, Luke 16. Our Lord says
in Luke 16, now this is important here, Luke 16, verse 15, he says,
And he said to them, you are they which justify yourselves
before men, before people. Now, we're all guilty of that.
Come on, now, be honest. But God knows your heart. And
that which is highly esteemed among men is an abomination in
the sight of God. I want to stop to look at that
and realize how much of our so-called religion today is an abomination
to God. Highly esteemed among men. Justify
yourself before men. God knows you hard. I want to
be justified, and I'm not going to justify myself. Job said,
that in my mouth had proved me perverse, and I'm not going to
put up a front before you and claim that I'm perfect, holy,
pious, without sin. Look back at Isaiah 45, now,
so where am I going to do business? I'm going to do business with
God. Because He is a just God, and He's a Savior. I don't want
to do business with men, I want to do business with God. And
my sins are against God. And I must hear him say, thy
sins be forgiven thee. It won't do me any good to hear
my neighbor say, isn't he a wonderful fellow? Isn't she a fine lady? That won't do any good. I want
to hear God say, like he said to that woman, thy sins be forgiven
thee. Because it's against him that
I've sinned. Not going to justify myself.
My mouth can say, you're all right. My neighbor's mouth may
say, you're all right, but I want to hear God say, you're all right
in Christ. Because he said in Isaiah 45,
19, listen, I, the Lord, speak righteousness. I declare things
that are right, not as they seem to be, as they are. I speak righteousness. And oh,
to hear him say it. The only way he can say it is
to see me in Christ. It's for me to be in Christ.
Look at verse 24. Verse 24. Surely shall one say,
In the Lord have I righteousness. That's where I have it, in the
Lord. Verse 25. In the Lord shall all the seed
of Israel be justified. Where? In the Lord. That's where
it is. You see why Paul now, in Philippians
3, talks about all of his religious background, accomplishments,
and he said, I count these things but done, that I may win Christ
and be found in him. Not having mine own righteousness,
which is of the law, but the righteousness which is of God.
Oh, that I may know him and the power of his resurrected life.
You won't find a more important statement anywhere in this book
than, I am a just God and a Savior. And I'll tell you this, if you
know who that just God is and what you are, you want to find
out how that God can be a just God and be a Savior. And you
want to hear him. You don't want to justify yourself,
I've made my peace with God. That's not the kind of peace
I want. I want that peace that he made at Calvary with his law
and with his justice and with himself. And if I have, therefore, being
justified by faith, I have peace with God. But there's not going
to be any peace with God until I'm justified. And God's got
to be just when he justifies me. And that took place at Calvary. Our Father, we thank Thee for
the gospel. When we read this and preach
this, we realize why it's called the gospel, good news, glad tidings
of great joy, which shall be to all people. Unto you is born
this day in the city of David a Savior. Christ the Lord. And we do look to Thee with dim
eyes through a glass darkly, but we do look, and we find in
Thee peaceful and calm assurance. In Christ is my hope. In His name, rejoicing in His
love and thanking Thee for Thy grace, in His name, amen.

A Just God and a Saviour

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